Unique Executive MBA in Healthcare Program Officially Launches at UBC

Vancouver, B.C. – In partnership with senior leaders in healthcare and government, the Sauder School of Business at UBC has launched Canada’s first Executive MBA designed exclusively for healthcare careers. Using the Leaders for Life Leadership Capabilities Framework as the foundation for the program, the program has been designed to provide participants with the knowledge, skills and tools to face the challenges, complexities and opportunities of a leadership career in healthcare. There are 23 participants signed up for the program, which begins on April 3, 2008. Dean Daniel F. Muzyka will open the program at the Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues at UBC.

In conjunction with the health authorities, Leaders for Life identified and selected nine scholarship recipients to receive financial assistance to participate in the Executive MBA. These individuals will receive $16,000, or one-third of the program tuition costs.

“We are very pleased to be offering this unique program to the health industry,” said Daniel F. Muzyka, Dean of the Sauder School of Business at UBC. “We have collaborated with key healthcare industry leaders to develop the EMBA, including Leaders for Life, the B.C. Ministry of Health, the Centre for Health Care Management at Sauder, representatives from the health authorities and other senior healthcare leaders.”

“We have developed a unique program that will address the specific needs of the health industry,” said Muzyka. “Participants attending the program will receive a practical and applied foundation in business and leadership fundamentals, including analytical and strategic tools to provide a basis for fair, balanced and efficient decision-making across all healthcare management settings.”

“Leadership is a key issue in healthcare,” stated Geoff Rowlands, President & CEO of Leaders for Life. “The EMBA will generate leadership skills so desperately needed for the future healthcare system in B.C. This is the first program of its kind to foster leadership and excellence in healthcare business administration. They have used our LEADS framework and we are delighted to provide this support. The framework can be viewed on our website at www.leadersforlife.ca.

“We have also been administering pilot programs to create the information that will be shared and utilized by our many partnering organizations: our post-secondary partners, such as Royal Roads University, Simon Fraser University and the Sauder School of Business at UBC, the health authorities of British Columbia, local and international health associations and our government partners.”

Leaders for Life is a leadership enhancement initiative for the BC health system, and is affiliated with the Health Care Leaders Association of BC (HCLABC). Since the fall of 2007, Leaders for Life has been providing accelerated leadership development opportunities for high potential health care leaders, through collaborative partnerships with health employers, post-secondary institutions, governments and corporate links.

The Sauder School of Business at UBC is Canada’s leading academic business school, recognized internationally for its contributions to the transformation of business practices. With an international reputation for excellence in research and learning, and unmatched global partnerships, the faculty has more than 2,700 students in Bachelors, Masters and PhD programs, and boasts over 29,000 alumni in 70 countries.

Geoff Rowlands
Program Director
Leaders for Life
Phone: (250) 383-4252
geoff.rowlands@leadersforlife.ca